Studies Show: Homeopathy As Good As Prozac for Depresion!

Welcome back to The Well Mind, the blog bringing you the latest and greatest developments in mental health each and every week.

This week: new studies show anti-depressants may actually make things worse while homeopathic depression treatment are just as effective and without the risks!

While the economy may be in recession, Americans are in a depression.  The rate of people being diagnosed and treated for the condition is high – approximately 14.5% of US adults and children according to Mental Health America.  

When diagnosed, these people have a wide array of options for their relief, but the choice presented usually comes down to one or both of the following routes: pharmaceuticals or therapy.

Now, statistics show that these fields, like depression itself, are on the rise. What happened?

Job market?

Environmental toxins?

Could it be a generational thing?

When it comes to the cause there is no shortage of theories, but homeopathic experts offer some unique perspective on the issue. Like most, they feel the answer is not one thing, but rather a combination of factors. Unlike most however, they name “iatrogenesis”, doctor-induced disease, as a key component. As they point out, most conventional medicine works not cure a symptom, but to suppress it and this, in itself, is a big problem.  

The Homeopathic Perspective on Rising Rates of Depression

Symptoms they say, while annoying, are our body’s way of communicating  - and that stopping that communication solves nothing. Instead, it allows whatever is actually spurring the body to “speak”, to continue on in greater discretion. Further, the symptom our body creates in response to stress is often a byproduct of its natural defenses at work and its dismissal prevents what help it may have offered!

A fever for example, helps to kill off viral invaders by making the environment hotter than they can handle. Therefore, while treating the fever may make you more comfortable temporarily, it ultimately will elongate the illness that caused it in the first place.

The response many have to anti-depressant pharmaceuticals is a clear example of the way masking symptoms spurs more serious illness. Many actually become MORE depressed and their mental illness more pronounced. Yet, while it may seem that at this point medication would be off the table, when this happens, the response is often to have the patient take MORE of it or to add ANOTHER medication to the mix!

“Okay, you’ve convinced me. Antidepressants are not the answer, but what then SHOULD we do about depression?”

First, it’s most important that those experiencing longstanding depression seek therapy or counseling to get to the actual root issues causing their depression. A good therapist will be able to help you identify negative patterns, manage your feelings and develop a plan to support your overall happiness. It will take time, but is truly the best thing you can do for yourself long term!

If you want something to “take the edge off” in the mean time, skip the pharmaceuticals. Studies show the only time they do an iota of good is in the most severe and debilitating cases of depression – and the majority of people taking antidepressants do not fall into this category.

Try a homeopathic remedy for depression instead.

Unlike conventional pharmaceuticals, homeopathics are not selected by a patient’s diagnosed disease, but by their body's unique way of “communicating” it. In this very individualized way prescribing a remedy, the selection process is more difficult  than in conventional medicine. However,  when the right one is selected, it works in the body much like a vaccine would - essentially “teaching” the body to work in a new, more effective way against the stressor  - and it does it without any side effects.

Also unlike symptom-inhibiting conventional medicines, homeopathy fights with, not against the defense your body is already putting up. Most importantly though, IT WORKS – and as well as Prozac according to a recent study!

In it, severely depressed patients (averaging a score of 29 out of 32 on the MADRS scale of depression) were  given either Prozac or a homeopathic treatment in a randomized, double-blind, double-dummy 8 week trial. Results, (as you can see to the right) were nearly identical – except when it came to side-effects - where Prozac fared worse!

And it’s far from the only study confirming the efficiency of homeopathic treatments.

A study of the homeopathic treatment Gelsemium sepervirens compared the anxiety of mice on the treatment with mice in a control group by placing them inside a new and unfamiliar maze.  Mice that hadn’t received it were more likely to keep to the lighted areas of the maze while mice on the treatment were less fearful and more willing to explore the new environment.

Another study at Duke University lead by professor of psychiatry, Jonathan Davidson, MD found that among a participant groups of major depression, social phobia and panic disorder sufferers, 60% responded favorably.

And yet another study involved 14 physicians and nearly 1,000 participants treated with homeopathics for a range of chronic ailments. This one found that 75.9% had a “positive outcome”, 14.7% had no change and only 4.6% got any worse. The best results were achieved with anxiety, catarrh, colic, cystitis, depression, eczema, irritable bowel syndrome, and PMS. As for the depression patients specifically who self reported progress by the Likert scale ranging from -3 (made it much worse) to +3 (made it much better), 63.6% rated their homeopathic treatment as +2 or +3.

A Final Word

Depression is by no means a condition to be taken lightly. The chronic stress of depression can not only take a toll on our emotional well being, it can be devastating to our relationships, lifestyle and our physical health as well! Luckily though, unlike many other serious conditions, depression is highly treatable and does not require invasive procedures, surgeries or EVEN pharmaceutical side effects.

If you or a loved one are struggling with depression, PLEASE seek the help of therapist or counselor. And, if you need something to help take the edge off, try a homeopathic remedy first.

Sources:

http://www.naturalnews.com/034597_antidepressant_drugs_homeopathy_remedies.html

http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pmed.0050045

http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ecam/2011/520182/

Photo Credit:

http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ecam/2011/520182/fig2/

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